In the recent period, gaming laptops have overtaken desktop computers in terms of popularity in the market, especially among college students, youth, and professionals who need a device that can accomplish their multitasking with leading technical specifications and portability easily.
But sure, the price
points are quite different but other than that you will be able to run the
latest games with very good performance and get a high frame rate, in general,
you will not have any problems playing them. However, anyone who has spent a
few hours gaming on a laptop will know that the biggest problem these devices
face is that they generate overheating.
It's a frustrating
issue, and it can negatively affect your gaming experience as well as the
hardware components inside - one of them may burn if it gets too hot. Although
cooling a laptop is not as easy as cooling a desktop computer, there are some
useful solutions and tricks that you can adopt to keep your laptop cool while
playing games or working on heavy programs. In this article, we are going to
learn about some of these effective solutions, so let's get started right away.
Buying a laptop cooler
Because of the compact
design of laptops, it is not surprising that they can get so hot. The compact
design of the internal components limits the amount of cooling that can be
obtained. Therefore, if you can add more fans to cool the laptop, it will help
a lot to work with higher performance and lower heat.
Fortunately, there are
plenty of laptop coolers on the market that make this happen. It is a large fan
or several fans built into a small laptop stand. All you have to do is place
this stand on any table or desk, then place your laptop on top and turn it on.
The fan will start directing air to the underside of the laptop, effectively
cooling it and reducing heat. Keep in mind that laptop coolers are inexpensive
- and they usually have a strong effect on keeping your laptop's temperature
during hours-long gaming sessions.
This is not surprising,
as you are adding an extra fan to the laptop to enhance the airflow well. But
if you don't have the money to get a Laptop Cooler, you can always invest in a
regular pad which is a very small block that fits under the laptop, making room
to allow air to flow more freely. Note that many panels are made of materials
that act as heat sinks, such as aluminum.
Although it is a less
popular solution, you can also invest in an external laptop graphics card
(eGPU). These devices cost a bit more than you might want to spend, but if you
have the money to get them, they will save the laptop more power than the
graphics card on the motherboard, as these devices generate their heat away
from the rest of the laptop components.
We have already talked
about laptop coolers. If you want to know more, we recommend that you read this
article
Use the laptop on a table or desk whenever possible
The place where you put
your laptop is really an important thing to take care of. It is not because it
is a portable device that allows you to use it while sitting on the bed;
Perhaps it is an excellent way to relax yes! But putting it on top of the
covers or between your legs on your mattress is hardly a good idea. When it
comes to "where" your best bet is to place the laptop on a hard, flat
surface, not a soft or smooth surface. This ensures that the airflow can better
travel underneath the appliance rather than the heat being 'bunked' between
components and getting too hot.
Floors, even those made
of hardwood, are not ideal places to put a laptop, often due to the excess of
dust particles floating around. Using your laptop on a desk or table is ideal,
especially if it's in a nice, cool room. Sure, using your laptop anywhere you
want is one of the biggest perks of owning one, but if you're gaming or doing
some hardware-intensive tasks, you'll need all the help you can get to provide
proper ventilation.
Keep laptop components clean
It's certainly a known
thing, but if your laptop is clogged with dirt and dust, the exhaust fans won't
be able to function as they should. And even if you don't live in a place where
there is a lot of dust, every square inch of the floor is covered with some
kind of dust - that's a fact - so if you don't clean your house well,
especially if you have pets, your whole house is full of dust. This dust makes
its way into your laptop through the ventilation holes at the bottom, and over
time causes these openings to become completely clogged.
The easiest way to
accomplish the task of cleaning the laptop is to buy a blower, then stop the
laptop and take it outside, then start the blower and direct it towards the
ventilation holes to expel the accumulated dirt and dust. You can also disassemble
the underside of the device for better access to internal components and dusty
areas, which cannot be accessed through the openings, but be aware that doing
so may void the warranty of the device, and if you operate the blower at a high
air expelling degree, it may damage Sensitive hardware components inside.
Once you have cleaned as
much dust from your laptop as possible, you can always finish the cleaning job
by using dry cotton ear buds to get rid of the accumulated dust in those small,
hard-to-reach areas.
Change some settings on the laptop
Believe it or not, there
are settings in your laptop that you can adjust to ensure that it runs at an
optimal temperature. Irrespective of the fact that you buy a laptop with
technical specifications capable of meeting the demands of the games you play,
you will be smarter if you check and install available updates for drivers and
operating systems on a regular basis.
Options include lowering
the screen brightness slightly so that it is below 100% while still being able
to see clearly. As well as making sure to close unnecessary programs that use
resources intensively, you can run the Task Manager tool and check the programs
that are taking advantage of the capabilities of the processor, RAM, and hard
disk, and close them temporarily until you finish playing. Also check your
laptop's power settings, where you will find a variety of preset options and
configurations that will maximize the power savings.
If you want to be sure
that the changes you have made are really effective in lowering the
temperature, you can always download free monitoring software like SpeedFan to
monitor the temperature of your PC effectively. Not every fan or piece of
hardware has a specific gauge for the maximum temperature, but you should be
able to tell how well your device is putting out heat. Also, although it's a
less common problem, you may want to see if the BIOS needs an update because
it's a temperature factor.
Perform routine maintenance
Like any other
electronics, laptops are not designed to last the way other products might, and
as such, everything inside a laptop has a limited life. So, routine maintenance
on laptops is a must. Although cleaning it regularly is part of good device
maintenance, there are other things you may want to check every once in a while
to help keep your laptop running at as low a temperature as possible.
If the laptop
overheating problem suddenly appeared recently, you may need to replace the
cooling fan because it is very likely that it is the cause of the problem, and
generally you can tell if one of the fans is damaged by the noise it makes. You
will also need to make sure that you have not misused the charger and laptop
battery lately. One of the easiest ways to shorten the life of a laptop is by
overcharging its battery.
On most laptops, the
charging socket is plugged into the motherboard, and if it's broken or damaged,
it's more expensive to repair than buying a brand-new laptop. So, you should
not keep the charger plugged in all the time as this is also an easy way to
quickly damage the charging socket.
Also, the laptop battery
will get hotter when it is being charged compared to when it is not. So,
charging the device at night after you're done using it and only charging it
while you're using it when you absolutely need it, is one way to ensure your
laptop continues to run cooler.
In the end, if your
laptop is overheating and you are looking for ways to help it run cooler, the
above methods should help you. If you have an old laptop, it may be time to
upgrade.